Markey says South Shore key in clean-energy push

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey spoke Thursday at a South Shore Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Lombardo's in Randolph.

Lane Lambert The Patriot Ledger @llambert_ledger

RANDOLPH – U.S. Sen. Edward Markey says the South Shore is playing a key role in the state’s drive to lead the nation into a future of clean energy and further high-tech and biotech developments.

“We need to keep looking ahead, to where our opportunity will be ... and not be looking back,” Markey said Thursday at a South Shore Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Lombardo’s in Randolph.

As an example, the 36-year congressional veteran pointed to the 3-megawatt solar panel array operating on a former town landfill on the Driftway in Scituate.

The solar farm is run by Scituate Solar LLC. Markey noted that the solar farm and a nearby wind turbine make Scituate the state’s first community to get all of its municipal power from clean energy sources.

Markey also pointed to the Serono biotech firm in Rockland and its 800 jobs as an example of the South Shore’s being part of what he called “the idea factory” that Massachusetts has become in the 21st century.

The luncheon address was Markey’s first to the South Shore Chamber.

He said he was originally scheduled to make the visit in October, four months after he was elected to former Sen. John Kerry’s seat, but that he had to postpone the trip to stay in Washington when the failure of a congressional budget compromise led to a federal government shutdown.

After the luncheon, Markey said in a Patriot Ledger interview that he’s “hopeful” that Democrats and Republicans will be more willing to work together this year, after an acrimonious 2013.

He pointed to the bipartisan vote to raise the federal debt ceiling earlier this month as a sign of improved relations between the parties.

Markey also noted that he’s been a high-tech advocate since the start of his long congressional career – notably as the sponsor of a 1996 telecommunications act that created more cellphone licenses and helped launch that industry.

“When I was first elected to the House in 1976, we all had black telephones,” he quipped. “Only birds tweeted.”

Referring to today’s smartphones, he said, “Many of you are looking at them and not listening to me, and I’m proud of that.”